:00:10. > :00:14.The flagship free school where the numbers don't seem to add up and
:00:15. > :00:19.where the questions about discipline are directed not at the pupils but
:00:20. > :00:24.at how the school is run. You have big aspirations here, that's great.
:00:25. > :00:29.The Prime Minister was a big fan. But we have an exclusive report on
:00:30. > :00:35.allegations of mismanagement, nepotisim and possible fraud at the
:00:36. > :00:38.Kings Science Academy. Britain is growing and bouncing back is the
:00:39. > :00:43.story of the latest figure, why isn't everything plastic fantastic
:00:44. > :00:46.in Sheffield. The work has picked up, but I think some companies have
:00:47. > :00:50.to sacrifice how much they are sell it for to how much they make. We
:00:51. > :00:54.will hear from three chief executives of big British companies.
:00:55. > :00:58.And the mystery of Maria has been solved, the family of the blonde
:00:59. > :01:09.Roma girl, who has made the front pages all around the world has been
:01:10. > :01:14.traced. We hear from Athens. Good evening, all schools can face
:01:15. > :01:17.problems, but the Government's flagship free schools are under
:01:18. > :01:20.greater scrutiny, most because their very existence is part of a huge
:01:21. > :01:25.political debate about the direction of education policy. Tonight
:01:26. > :01:29.Newsnight can reveal that a whistleblower sounded the alarm
:01:30. > :01:34.about Kings Science Academy, a free school in Bradford. It has been the
:01:35. > :01:40.subject of an internal audit which questions where large sums money has
:01:41. > :01:48.gone amid allegations of nepotisim, misGetah and fraud. A new day begins
:01:49. > :01:59.at one of Britain's highest profile free schools. This is Kings Science
:02:00. > :02:04.Academy in Bradford. It is celebrated By a Prime Minister and
:02:05. > :02:09.his Education Secretary as one of the new free schools. How do you
:02:10. > :02:12.find having a longer day? A bit tiring, but you don't mind getting
:02:13. > :02:17.up earlier if you are getting a good education. Like all free schools it
:02:18. > :02:20.is state funded, but outside Local Education Authority control. The
:02:21. > :02:24.policy is designed to help communities take charge of their
:02:25. > :02:30.children's education. But we have discovered that financial management
:02:31. > :02:33.at Kings Science Academy has been out of control. There have been
:02:34. > :02:38.allegations of serious mismanagement, nepotisim and even
:02:39. > :02:43.fraud. The Kings Science Academy was set up by a young dynamic Oxford
:02:44. > :02:48.graduate, the son of a Bradford bus driver. On paper it was the ideal
:02:49. > :02:52.project, social mobility and better education. More than two years after
:02:53. > :02:59.it is open the complaints have come in. And this is the result, an audit
:03:00. > :03:01.report that contains devastating criticisms of financial management
:03:02. > :03:04.at the school. The leaked report is a draft internal audit, written by a
:03:05. > :03:08.body called the Education Funding Agency of, the EFA, it is part of
:03:09. > :03:14.the Department of Education. Newsnight can reveal a whistleblower
:03:15. > :03:16.contacted the Government last year with serious concerns about
:03:17. > :03:25.management and governance at the school. The report alemmings that 86
:03:26. > :03:26.-- alleges that ?86,000 of lead-in funding was cued for purpose it was
:03:27. > :04:01.not intended It is unbelievable if true. We are
:04:02. > :04:07.talking about here fraud on a pretty serious scale. The question of the
:04:08. > :04:12.appropriateness of qualifications is one thing in terms of what was this
:04:13. > :04:17.person, the right person, a fit person to run a school. A
:04:18. > :04:24.publicly-funded school. This is the man at the heart of the story. Sajid
:04:25. > :04:28.Raza, the principal, who set up Kings Science Academy two years ago.
:04:29. > :04:32.Kings Science Academy is certainly well connected. Alan Lewis is
:04:33. > :04:43.described as executive patron and a key begin factor -- Benny factor,
:04:44. > :04:45.he's a successful business man and Conservative Party vice chairman. We
:04:46. > :04:49.spoke to a former member of staff about his time at the school. He
:04:50. > :04:54.feared his career would be damaged if he spoke publicly, so we agreed
:04:55. > :04:57.to protect his identity. It is the flagship free school. I think it is
:04:58. > :05:01.fair to say it has huge political backing in the current political
:05:02. > :05:05.atmosphere, at least. From that point of view it is highly, highly
:05:06. > :05:10.protected. As a result of that it is hard to hold someone to account if
:05:11. > :05:15.you have got that much protection. The school opened in 2011, the audit
:05:16. > :05:20.document says the new building was given public funds of over ?10
:05:21. > :05:27.million. Alan Lewis gave a helping hand. It is built on land leased
:05:28. > :05:33.from Mr Lewis's company at a cost of ?296,000 a year for 20 years. About
:05:34. > :05:39.?6 million. In Bradford there were high hopes for the school. But some
:05:40. > :05:43.were uneasy. In Bradford word soon got out that the principal was
:05:44. > :05:47.employing many members of his own family. This document lists them.
:05:48. > :05:50.His brother was on the governing body, his sister was a senior
:05:51. > :05:55.teacher at the school, his wife worked there too and his father
:05:56. > :05:58.drove the school minibus. To outsiders it was beginning to look
:05:59. > :06:17.like a family business. The EFA report says:
:06:18. > :06:25.We spoke to the school's former Finance Director, Daud Khan. Did you
:06:26. > :06:31.ever have any concerns that there were so many family members
:06:32. > :06:35.associated with this school? At the time, to be honest with you we
:06:36. > :06:41.thought they had all gone through the interview process and somebody's
:06:42. > :06:45.interview them. Afterwards we found out that certain people were
:06:46. > :06:48.recruited without being interviewed. Would you say that is wrong? That is
:06:49. > :06:53.totally wrong, because we are dealing with public money. Free
:06:54. > :06:57.schools are accountable to the Education Funding Agency, the EFA.
:06:58. > :07:01.The EFA visited the school in December 2012 as part of a routine
:07:02. > :07:05.inspection of its financial management. That visit highlighted
:07:06. > :07:09.significant witnesses in the academy's governance. The academy
:07:10. > :07:18.had reported its own financial management as "good", the EFA team
:07:19. > :07:24.found it was "inadequate. The EFA passed the case to the audit team to
:07:25. > :07:29.look for accounting irregularities. There was an historical review of
:07:30. > :07:33.the school's finances. Their work highlighted serious concerns.
:07:34. > :07:37.Benefactor and Conservative vice chairman, Alan Lewis, told us it was
:07:38. > :07:42.his recommendation to bring them in. Reading the EFA report, the message
:07:43. > :07:47.that comes out loud and clear is that there was chaos in terms of
:07:48. > :07:51.financial control and management of the academy. Is that your experience
:07:52. > :07:55.when you were there? I think certainly as classroom teach e I
:07:56. > :07:58.think things had been constantly things had been changed on a daily
:07:59. > :08:02.basis. It is that level of chaos could be down to just incompetence
:08:03. > :08:07.based on inexperience. That is one way of viewing it. I think the other
:08:08. > :08:10.way of viewing it is it is because they were unaware essentially of how
:08:11. > :08:16.to run the school, it was almost being made up as they go along.
:08:17. > :08:20.Sajid would do a lot of things behind closed doors, he wouldn't get
:08:21. > :08:23.me or anybody he else involved. I don't know how much he was telling
:08:24. > :08:26.the governors, even if he was telling them, the majority were all
:08:27. > :08:32.their friends any way. They would back him up. The most eye-catching
:08:33. > :08:35.conclusion though is not all invoices submitted to the Government
:08:36. > :08:41.for payment could be justified. The report states that the principal, Mr
:08:42. > :08:47.Raza has admitted some of the invoices submitted to the department
:08:48. > :08:57.to support the claim for lead-in grant, were fabricated invoices. He
:08:58. > :09:00.blames Daud Khan for fabricating six invoices from Mr Lewis's company.
:09:01. > :09:03.Have you seen these invoices? I don't know anything about it. It is
:09:04. > :09:09.stark reading. In one passage in the document it says "further follow-up
:09:10. > :09:18.with Mr Raza clarified that all six invoices, supposedly from the Trust
:09:19. > :09:21.were raised by Daud, you, the former Finance Director so rent could be
:09:22. > :09:25.claimed from the Department of Education as part of the grant
:09:26. > :09:30.claim. They are trying to put the blame on you? That is rubbish, I was
:09:31. > :09:33.recruited for book keeping, banking reconciliation and other tasks. I
:09:34. > :09:37.was responsible for financial accounting not management. Any
:09:38. > :09:41.invoices that were passed they were passed on from Razpash, he would be
:09:42. > :09:45.responsible for opening all the post. David Ward MP sits on the
:09:46. > :09:49.Education Select Committee, a school governor for 30 years, he has long
:09:50. > :09:59.been a critic of the free school policy. It sounds, and I I think it
:10:00. > :10:03.sounds like a complete disaster and a financial nightmare. If this is
:10:04. > :10:07.true, we must ensure this is made public. Because this is such a
:10:08. > :10:12.flagship policy for the Government, there is always a suspicion that
:10:13. > :10:20.anything that is critical of free schools will not be made public and
:10:21. > :10:23.that is not simply in terms of the academic performance of the school,
:10:24. > :10:28.but actually the governance, quality and integrity of the governance
:10:29. > :10:32.procedures as well. We also tried to speak to Conservative vice chairman
:10:33. > :10:38.Alan Lewis, the former executive patron at the school, his company
:10:39. > :10:50.spokesman We also asked the principal about
:10:51. > :11:11.governance, the schools lawyers told us. .
:11:12. > :11:17.The Department of Education told us there is a plan for the school to
:11:18. > :11:20.pay back ?76,000 after expenditure couldn't be justified. The
:11:21. > :11:27.department stress both the EFA and the school had taken action when
:11:28. > :11:30.problems were revealed. Six months after the report was drafted,
:11:31. > :11:33.knowing we were about to broadcast for the investigation, the
:11:34. > :11:35.Department of Education published the report on its website. A
:11:36. > :11:57.spokesman said. D.. People in Bradford will be left
:11:58. > :12:01.wondering about the future of their free school. But the Department of
:12:02. > :12:04.Education says there are more scandals in conventional state
:12:05. > :12:07.schools. Both the academy and the Department of Education say that
:12:08. > :12:12.governance and financial management are much improved.
:12:13. > :12:15.Richard is with me now, what has been going on this week since you
:12:16. > :12:19.started this investigation? It is the timing that is very curious. We
:12:20. > :12:24.got hold of this leaked draft report about a week ago, beginning of the
:12:25. > :12:29.week. By Tuesday we had interviewed our own sources on this, we have put
:12:30. > :12:32.the allegations to the people being criticised. By Wednesday the
:12:33. > :12:35.principal of the school was telling me the draft report was only a draft
:12:36. > :12:41.and it won't be published until January next year. That changed very
:12:42. > :12:44.quickly indeed, because today, well yesterday, then the Department of
:12:45. > :12:47.Education said, look, we are going to publish this, but they didn't
:12:48. > :12:52.want to give a timetable for it, they said several weeks. Today, of
:12:53. > :12:56.course, they publish it on their website a few hours before we go to
:12:57. > :12:59.air. I should pension mention one other thing that I think came out of
:13:00. > :13:02.the Department of Education today, which is actually very interesting.
:13:03. > :13:07.That is there is a reference in their statement to the fact that
:13:08. > :13:12.they refer it to the police in April this year but the police chose to
:13:13. > :13:15.take no further action. We contacted the Department of Education but
:13:16. > :13:19.nobody was available to come on the programme tonight.
:13:20. > :13:22.Today's growth figures, the best for three years, were hailed by the
:13:23. > :13:26.Chancellor, George Osborne, as demonstrating that Britain was on
:13:27. > :13:32.the path to prosperity. Before the band could strike up a chorus of
:13:33. > :13:36.Happy Days Are Here Again, George Osborne was reminded that people are
:13:37. > :13:39.squeezed, energy prices are up way beyond inflation, and inflation has
:13:40. > :13:45.been significantly higher than wage increases. We're in Sheffield to
:13:46. > :13:54.find out what 0. 8% growth in the last quarter means in the real
:13:55. > :13:59.world. Sheffield is a city that still trades on its past, metals and
:14:00. > :14:06.heavy industry. The decline of the steel works forced the city to
:14:07. > :14:11.reinvent itself. Now these slabs at ?20,000 each are being used to make
:14:12. > :14:15.something different, Sheffield plastic.
:14:16. > :14:20.We were within a month of going under. It was as close as that, we
:14:21. > :14:24.had already, if you like, made arrangements with banks to say look
:14:25. > :14:28.we are going to have to pull the plug. At the height of the recession
:14:29. > :14:32.this company was on the brink, but orders started to come back, four
:14:33. > :14:35.years later it feels like things are looking up. We're confident that we
:14:36. > :14:39.have turned the corner, I'm confident that we will move ahead,
:14:40. > :14:43.we are going to invest in more people and more equipment, we
:14:44. > :14:47.believe the economy is on the up, the automotive industry, Aerospace
:14:48. > :14:52.are growing, we don't see why the UK can't take advantage of this growth.
:14:53. > :14:57.This latest set of GDP figures is starting to paint a picture of what
:14:58. > :15:01.looks like a solid recovery. All sectors of the economy grew together
:15:02. > :15:07.in the third quarter. Industrial output was up 0. 5%, helped by a 0.
:15:08. > :15:14.9% rise in manufacturing. The service sector grew another 0.7 per
:15:15. > :15:18.cent, constructiontruction is bouncing back helped by an increase
:15:19. > :15:22.in house building. A quarterly growth of 0. 8% is the highest for
:15:23. > :15:26.three years. I think Britain's hard work is paying off. We see that in
:15:27. > :15:30.these economic numbers today. It shows we are on the path to
:15:31. > :15:34.prosperity. Lots of risks remain, we have to stick with the economic plan
:15:35. > :15:43.that has got us this far. What the Chancellor is after is some
:15:44. > :15:49.Dragons Den-style innovation. You are harming the environment by a
:15:50. > :15:53.bottle you say is here, it is a terrible invention, ludicrous but
:15:54. > :15:59.I'm out. Ducan Bannatyne might not have liked the idea, but this
:16:00. > :16:03.factory has now churned out half a million collapsable bottles for its
:16:04. > :16:07.British inventor, many going for export. To some of the well known
:16:08. > :16:11.companies we are churning out 10,000 a month each for the big companies
:16:12. > :16:14.for their customers. It is really good. How much money are you making
:16:15. > :16:22.on something like this? Not enough. You are not going to tell us are
:16:23. > :16:28.you? But even after today's positive growth figures the economy is still
:16:29. > :16:33.two-and-a-half 2. 5% smaller than at its peak in 2008. There are
:16:34. > :16:38.constraints on the recovery, banks are still reluctant to end, the
:16:39. > :16:42.fiscal squeeze is still there and real pay is falling. We are seeing
:16:43. > :16:48.the recovery broaden out and become much stronger. Well today's data
:16:49. > :16:52.might look good on paper, the reality for most workers here is a
:16:53. > :16:58.squeeze on wages and the cost of living. Money-wise you do feel, you
:16:59. > :17:04.don't feel as though it is getting a lot better. In the last couple of
:17:05. > :17:07.years. Are you starting to feel better off, do you feel that there
:17:08. > :17:14.is better times ahead or is that still a long way away? They say it
:17:15. > :17:20.is, but if it is it is all down south, not up north. No I don't
:17:21. > :17:25.think so. So the economy might be on the mend, growth might be picking
:17:26. > :17:32.up, the Government's next task is to make these workers feel they are
:17:33. > :17:36.part of it. I'm joined by three CEOs from three top British companies,
:17:37. > :17:43.Lisa Thomas of the advertising agency, Saatchi, and Paul Waits and
:17:44. > :17:48.Paul Dunn from 02. The construction figures were good, what is driving
:17:49. > :17:54.that, is it just confidence is back or Help To Buy or those kinds of
:17:55. > :17:57.things? The principal driver of stronger growth in construction in
:17:58. > :18:01.this quarter, has been the increase in house building, private
:18:02. > :18:05.residential house building, a little bit of increase in infrastructure,
:18:06. > :18:10.still a long way to go to get the industry back to where it was five
:18:11. > :18:14.years ago. Do you worry about it in the south-east, it is in London and
:18:15. > :18:18.also do you worry about it could be a bubble? I think there is no doubt
:18:19. > :18:22.that the economy in London and the south-east is considerably stronger
:18:23. > :18:26.than the rest of the UK. And that there is investment needed to
:18:27. > :18:30.rebalance the economy to get some stronger growth and employment
:18:31. > :18:32.opportunities outside the greater London area. That's quite
:18:33. > :18:37.interesting, that kind of reflects what we heard from Sheffield there.
:18:38. > :18:41.In terms of advertising, whose who is advertising, where is the growth
:18:42. > :18:44.coming from there? Not surprisingly in terms of the development of
:18:45. > :18:48.digital, the growth is coming, there is advertising, but it seems to be
:18:49. > :18:51.the majority of spend is on digital and a huge increase in mobile as
:18:52. > :18:55.well. That seems to be up considerably. Do you see any
:18:56. > :18:59.evidence of overall rebalancing of the economy, the Government made it
:19:00. > :19:02.quite clear what they wanted was more manufacturing, less on
:19:03. > :19:06.financial services and more export-driven economy. You sound as
:19:07. > :19:10.if you are talking about advertising the exact opposite of that? The
:19:11. > :19:15.service businesses seem to be driving forward, advertising is
:19:16. > :19:18.growing. I'm not sure where the growth is coming from but it would
:19:19. > :19:22.suggest it is not from manufacturing, yes. I suppose the
:19:23. > :19:25.overall point that people are thinking about, it may be good for
:19:26. > :19:28.the economy, that is great, but is it good for me? What we have seen is
:19:29. > :19:32.people talking about this crisis of living standards. It is not
:19:33. > :19:35.filtering through in increased wages? Certainly we're seeing it is
:19:36. > :19:41.mostly small businesses that are seeing some pig-up now in our
:19:42. > :19:44.customer base. What we are trying to make sure is by launching our 4 G
:19:45. > :19:47.services in places like Yorkshire, we are trying to make sure it is a
:19:48. > :19:51.broader-based economy growth. I think digital skills and the digital
:19:52. > :19:55.economy will be part of how it seeps through to the general consumer.
:19:56. > :19:59.That might be the good news in a couple of years time. Just right
:20:00. > :20:03.now, Grangemouth has been in the news this week, without the ins and
:20:04. > :20:08.outs of the dispute, a lot of people who look at it there are workers
:20:09. > :20:12.taking pay cut to keep a job, that reflects how a lot of people feel
:20:13. > :20:16.about their own jobs? There is huge cost pressure in the economy, trying
:20:17. > :20:20.to keep a cap on prices is really tough, in our sector we are seeing
:20:21. > :20:23.prices trop in real terms, but we know that average households are
:20:24. > :20:27.seeing a lot of their other costs going up in utilities, I think it
:20:28. > :20:32.will be a while, and I think it is the overall growth in the economy
:20:33. > :20:40.that will help to see Anne crease in real wages. Do any of you see that
:20:41. > :20:44.any time soon -- an increase in real wages, do you see that any time
:20:45. > :20:47.soon? We are faced with global competition, for many of our
:20:48. > :20:51.products and services and they have to compete on a global stage.
:20:52. > :20:54.Getting the overall strength in the economy will take some time. The
:20:55. > :20:58.Chancellor said, we have to stick to the plan, it is incredibly important
:20:59. > :21:02.that for a lot of these investments that there is cross-party support,
:21:03. > :21:06.so we have continuous growth in the economy. Not the stop-start we have
:21:07. > :21:09.had in recent year That is interesting, cross-party support,
:21:10. > :21:12.that came up in a different aspect there. Both the Prime Minister and
:21:13. > :21:18.Deputy Prime Minister effectively had a go with Labour and said we
:21:19. > :21:22.need you not to go wobbly on HS 2, presumably your industry would
:21:23. > :21:27.benefit greatly if that goes ahead? The vital thing about HS 2 is it is
:21:28. > :21:32.one of the best investments r getting a rebalanced economy in the
:21:33. > :21:36.UK, it brings eight to ten cities closer to London. That has to be
:21:37. > :21:40.good for the economy overall. It won't gain momentum if investors
:21:41. > :21:43.can't be confident if it will have the support of all parties over the
:21:44. > :21:48.long-term. Would you put ?50 billion into that if you had ?50 billion as
:21:49. > :21:53.a Government to spend. Is it that important for the economy? It is key
:21:54. > :21:56.to invest in the infrastructure to support the economy. We need
:21:57. > :21:59.transport and communications infrastructure, at the moment there
:22:00. > :22:02.is a lot of investment going on. Our business alone will invest one
:22:03. > :22:06.billion a year and our sector ?5 billion. At this important stage in
:22:07. > :22:09.the economy's recovery we have to commit to long-term investment,
:22:10. > :22:12.stable policy and stable regulation and then companies will invest on
:22:13. > :22:16.the back of the Government's investment. Not necessarily HS 2, we
:22:17. > :22:20.still haven't seen the business case up for it? I think connectivity is
:22:21. > :22:24.critical. I think the balance of the economy will be supported by the
:22:25. > :22:29.right sort of transport links and communications links, so we have a
:22:30. > :22:36.broader economy. I think it is important as was said
:22:37. > :22:41.to build the connectivity and build the closeness between the north and
:22:42. > :22:44.south. You talked about the north being left behind, that connectivity
:22:45. > :22:49.through the country is very important, and investing in
:22:50. > :22:53.infrastructure is critical for us. The other interesting thing from the
:22:54. > :22:56.report, you have the businessman being asked, how much are you
:22:57. > :22:59.making, and not enough. It is not just wages being squeezed but
:23:00. > :23:02.profits too for the small businesses? Margins across the
:23:03. > :23:05.economy have been squeezed everywhere, I think what we have to
:23:06. > :23:09.try to make sure is there is enough money left for the investment. Now,
:23:10. > :23:14.one other issue which has come up again today, David Cameron has been
:23:15. > :23:17.in Europe, do you worry as some business people do that the
:23:18. > :23:20.uncertainty, whatever your views are, how people should vote if there
:23:21. > :23:24.is a referendum, do you worry about the uncertainty? As the head of a
:23:25. > :23:27.British business that's owned by a European parent, I think it is
:23:28. > :23:31.really important for me to make the case for investment in the UK. I
:23:32. > :23:35.think that case can be made much more strongly when the UK is playing
:23:36. > :23:38.a leading role inside Europe. What do you think of that, is that
:23:39. > :23:42.something you worry about or not? It is vital for the success of the UK
:23:43. > :23:45.in the long-term to be at the centre of a strong and better Europe and
:23:46. > :23:51.that's a far better forward than being an outsider on the periphery.
:23:52. > :23:56.Agreed? Definitely. And just one final point, one other question
:23:57. > :24:01.about Grangemouth, it came up very, very strongly from Ineos themselves
:24:02. > :24:05.who basically said this is a very difficult market and not place in
:24:06. > :24:09.which we can compete, we can go somewhere else and make it for less,
:24:10. > :24:12.it goes back to your question about the global race, David Cameron also
:24:13. > :24:15.talks about that? The fundamental challenge for the UK in the
:24:16. > :24:18.long-term is to be internationally competitive, and that means from the
:24:19. > :24:21.talent and skills that we generate through to the products and services
:24:22. > :24:26.we manufacture and deliver. We have to compete on a global basis,
:24:27. > :24:30.investors always have choice as to where they can put their money. Do
:24:31. > :24:35.we compete in the global basis? There was also a lot of figures
:24:36. > :24:40.about talent, lack of, educational standards, looking at 24 different
:24:41. > :24:46.countries, England comes about 2 #st and 22nd in terms of basic
:24:47. > :24:50.arithmetic skills. It is not great? The Government are behind t they are
:24:51. > :24:56.investing, the investment in apprentice schemes and in skills and
:24:57. > :25:00.in equipping the youth to deal with the new digital world has been
:25:01. > :25:04.impressive. I think we are doing what we can to develop that talent
:25:05. > :25:08.and I know all of our businesses are investing in young people, bringing
:25:09. > :25:15.in graduate, training them for the new skills and the new world that we
:25:16. > :25:18.need. Thank you all very much. Her face has been on newspaper front
:25:19. > :25:22.pages and the hunt for her real parents has been intense. It led to
:25:23. > :25:28.some people drawing parallels with the stories of Madeleine McKin and
:25:29. > :25:37.Ben Needham. The blonde girl detained in Greece is actually the
:25:38. > :25:42.child of another Roma couple from Romania. What does it tell us about
:25:43. > :25:47.the Roma and how they are viewed in countries like Greece.
:25:48. > :25:52.For more than a week her story mystified the world, and appeared to
:25:53. > :25:57.feed some old prejudices. How come Maria, found under a blanket at a
:25:58. > :26:01.Roma settlement in central Greece looked nothing like the couple she
:26:02. > :26:09.lived with. They were charged with anduction and Maria dubbed "the
:26:10. > :26:16.blonde angel", taken into care. Tot today a Bulgarian Roma couple were
:26:17. > :26:23.confirmed by DNA tests to be her biological parents, her mother said
:26:24. > :26:26.exactly what Maria's parents said, she gave up her little girl in
:26:27. > :26:30.Greece because she couldn't afford to look after her. Her biological
:26:31. > :26:35.grandmother said the same thing. TRANSLATION: She left the child and
:26:36. > :26:39.booked tickets home to her other children. It is not clear whether
:26:40. > :26:43.money was involved, both sides say not. The Greek charity looking after
:26:44. > :26:51.her had earlier suggested it was not simply a case of altruistic
:26:52. > :26:55.adoption? It shows that the combined effort of these people to buy and
:26:56. > :26:58.sell chirp, and when they have a good commodity, they like this one
:26:59. > :27:02.they are trying to find a better price. Today he was asked in a
:27:03. > :27:07.Newsnight interview whether he still stood by that. The story is more or
:27:08. > :27:13.less as the Greek Roma couple said it was, why was all this hysteria
:27:14. > :27:18.whipped up about abductions, about kidnappings, children as
:27:19. > :27:23.commodities? This was an illegal act one way or another. What we were
:27:24. > :27:28.saying then we are saying now. Whatever happened it was an illegal
:27:29. > :27:35.act. People that are using and manipulating the system, the Greek
:27:36. > :27:39.system to make false statements, so again, still it is an illegal act.
:27:40. > :27:45.Don't you think that the remarking you made fed into some existing
:27:46. > :27:48.stereotypes? No, it is me that made the remarks, it is a problem with
:27:49. > :27:53.the Europe that the Government don't respect the Romas and they let this
:27:54. > :27:59.situation of people who are using the Romas for this exploitation.
:28:00. > :28:04.Some Roma people. And I always say "some" Roma people. I have to be
:28:05. > :28:09.very specific and I'm very careful. In Ireland this week in apparent
:28:10. > :28:13.response to events in Greece, there were two separate cases where the
:28:14. > :28:16.police took a child away from Roma parents because they looked
:28:17. > :28:21.different. Tests later proved there was nothing amiss. It has been a
:28:22. > :28:25.week that has reminded us just how marginalised and precarious the
:28:26. > :28:31.position of Europe's 10 million Roma is. The debate that has been
:28:32. > :28:35.reignited, largely without their participation, has barely changed in
:28:36. > :28:41.decades if not centuries. Are the Roma an oppressed minority, victims
:28:42. > :28:44.of entrenched stereotypes, or a threat to the rest of society.
:28:45. > :28:48.Responsible at least in part for their own misfortune. Some are
:28:49. > :28:54.shocked that debate is still taking place at all. In Greece, as across
:28:55. > :28:58.Europe, any progress towards integrating Roma into society is
:28:59. > :29:02.being set back by economic austerity and will be set back even further by
:29:03. > :29:07.the case of Maria. Even though I'm an educated Roma, it
:29:08. > :29:13.had an impact, a negative impact on me, I was afraid to go outside. It
:29:14. > :29:20.has shattered the image of the Roma. It was negative, scapegoat, thieves,
:29:21. > :29:26.things like that. It became worse, because now we have also the blame
:29:27. > :29:30.that Roma people steal children. This is only case of illegal
:29:31. > :29:37.adoption. What happened doesn't apply to the rest of our society.
:29:38. > :29:40.Maria's future now still depends on further investigation of her story.
:29:41. > :29:44.But whatever the exact facts, attitudes to Roma are so polarised
:29:45. > :29:48.that many will have already drawn their own conclusions.
:29:49. > :30:42.Now tomorrow morning's front That's all we have time for, this
:30:43. > :30:46.weekend we are expecting the biggest storm since 1987. For those of you
:30:47. > :30:58.dreaming of warmer climb, we leave you with the singer Manuelo Escobar,
:30:59. > :31:03.here he is in happier times with catchy songs, he is mourned today in
:31:04. > :31:19.Spain. # VIVA he is spannia
:31:20. > :31:22.V ivaEspanga.